Bedtime Stories (Brad and Frank)
by Charlotte Thompson
Summary: What would Brad and Frank read to their kids? Answered in this. Darcy and Melody come from The Daughter of Frank and Brad thing. T for a make out scene that is interrupted.
1. Darcy 1

Darcy sat excitedly in bed. She absolutely hating sleeping, but her favorite time of day was when she could snuggle up in bed with one of her parents and read one of her many favorite books. She could go off to different worlds without even leaving her bed. Frank came in with a book. It had a girl on it holding a candle on it. There were ghostly hands surrounding it, one holding a sewing needle. In red letters it said "Coraline". She had never seen a book with a dark cover before. As a six years old, she was just starting to experiment with chapter books, and this one looked pretty hefty.

Frank lay down beside her. He cracked open the book. She smelled its sweet aroma. If there was one thing Darcy loved, it was the smell of a new book. Frank read aloud "Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house…" He started. Darcy just stuck onto that book for a whole three chapters that night alone. But then, Coraline actually opened and went through the door to another dimension. It was all the same, except one…little detail. Everyone had button eyes.

"How does that work mommy?" Darcy inquired innocently.

"What do you mean, dear?" Frank asked.

"How would they get button eyes instead of real eyes? What do they do with the real ones?" Darcy asked. Frank didn't know how to put this. He knew how it worked in the book but was not sure how to put it to a six year old.

"The eyes are painlessly turned into spherical trinkets like balls and things and then the buttons are sewn in." Frank answered.

"Wouldn't that hurt?" Darcy asked.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt more than when I had to fix Melody's leg." Frank responded. Darcy's eyes got huge. When Melody broke her leg, she was screaming bloody murder. "Though hopefully they would have actually had anesthesia that day." Frank said, making Darcy hide her head beneath the covers with her hands over her eyes.

"Mommy I don't want to read more." Darcy said. "I just want to read _Lily's Purple Plastic Purse_ one more time."

"No, we lost it, remember? That and _Where the Wild Things Are_…mysteriously disappeared." Frank pointed out.

"Then can you snuggle in with me and we can talk?" She asked.

Frank nodded. He turned on her classical music to get her to sleep. She buried her head into Frank's chest.

"You will protect my eyes, right Mommy?" She asked. Frank nodded and kissed her head. Eventually Darcy dozed off and Frank left.

Darcy was tossing and turning all through the night. In her dream she was walking through the castle when, like Coraline, she saw a door that was unfamiliar. She tried to stay away from it, but everything else started to disappear around her. She was forced to open the door and in the drawing style of the book, the whole corridor she had just come down was surrounding her. Melody, Frank and Brad all were there with button eyes, needles and thread. They all had creepy stitched smiles and Darcy had nowhere to turn. Everything around her was becoming black. Then just as Melody was about to turn her eyes into Ping-Pong balls, she woke up to see her father's face.

"I heard you screaming. I wanted to make sure you were okay." Brad explained.

"Mommy scared me with a book." Darcy explained. Brad saw _Coraline_ on the bedside.

"No wonder. This one freaked _me_ out." Brad said, recognizing the book. He picked up _Horton Hears a Who_. "This is much less scary." Brad suggested, sitting on her bed to read it to her. She sat beside him. "You have to lay down, though." He said.

"But I want to see the words and pictures." She protested.

Brad shrugged and laid down beside Darcy. He opened it to the first page and started reading. "On the fifteenth of May in the Jungle of Nool, in the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool, he was splashing… enjoying the jungle's great joys… When Horton the elephant heard a small noise." Brad read. Darcy smiled.

"This seems much better than Coraline!" Darcy exclaimed, snuggling in with Brad so she could read along. Brad put his arm around her and kept reading. He did all the voices.


	2. Melody 1

"I hate _The Butter Battle Book_! Can't we read something with more meaningful action?" Melody protested.

"You liked this last week!" Brad exclaimed.

"And we have read it every night since! I want action!" Melody clamored.

"_The Lorax_?" Brad suggested.

"No."

"_Horton Hears a Who_?"

"No."

"_Cat in the Hat_?"

"No."

"_Green Eggs and Ham_?"

"No."

"_Sneetches_?"

"No."

"_How the Grinch Stole Christmas_?"

"No! Not a Dr. Seuss book! ACTION!" She exclaimed.

Brad gasped. Frank came in. "Brad, I can take care of Melody."

Brad nodded. "Is Darcy asleep?" Brad asked.

"Yes." Frank answered.

Brad double-checked that Darcy was still asleep, then walked into the other room to get ready for bed himself.

Frank sat on the bedside next to Melody. "I have a story you will love if you want action." He handed her the book.

"A Series of Unfortunate Events?" She questioned.

Frank nodded. He lay beside her and opened the book. He read "If you are interested in stories with happy endings…"

"Which I am not." She interrupted.

"You would be better off reading some other book."

"So I am not."

"In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and few happy things in the middle."

"YAY!" She exclaimed excitedly.

" Oh we raised you the right way didn't we?" Frank asked facetiously.

"Yep! Now keep reading!" She exclaimed. Frank kept reading. She grew closer to her mom as the story went on.


	3. Frank and Brad

"So what did you read to Melody? I just saw you read Coraline to Darcy and wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have to comfort Melody tonight." Brad asked.

"A Series of Unfortunate Events." Frank answered.

"Oh that doesn't sound promising…" Brad started.

"Oh Brad darling, relax. It exercises her sense of dark humor." Frank answered.

"Yes, but I don't want her to have nightmares like Darcy did." Brad pointed out.

"Brad, you know Melody. Do you seriously think she would get scared over a little book?" Frank posed. Brad sighed.

"Well I can dream can't I?" Brad asked.

"Well there is one with a hospital so she may need you then." Frank answered.

"I love getting the quality time with Darcy." Brad explained.

"So I can read to Melody and you can read to Darcy." Frank clarified.

Brad smiled. Frank linked his fingers with Brad's beneath the covers.

"There is nothing that is hotter than a great dad." Frank pointed out.

"Then I must be downright sexy." Brad answered. Frank nodded. They made out fiercely. For once everything was working out until Melody walked in with the book that Frank was reading.

"Mommy, can we read more?" Melody asked. Frank sighed, rolling off of Brad.

"Not right now, sweetheart. I can read to you tomorrow." Frank answered.

"Pleeeeeaaaaaassssse Mommy?" She begged. "I need to know what happens to Violet Klaus and Sonny! Mainly Sonny! I promise I will go right to sleep after!"

"It will just get you wound up." Frank answered.

Brad asked "Did you remember to turn on her CD player?"

"She sleeps with music?" Frank asked.

"I typically play her to sleep but I have a backup CD. It knocks her out like a sedative." Brad answered.

"Daddy can you play guitar for me?" She asked.

Brad looked at Frank, then at Melody. "I cannot say no to those eyes." Brad admitted.

Frank nodded. They still had clothes on. Brad grabbed his guitar. He sat on a chair in her room. Frank stood in the doorway. As the song progressed Frank came in more. Brad sang and played Return to Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins. Frank sang the harmonies. Brad occasionally glanced over. Frank sat beside Brad eventually. Melody liked both of them singing together. By the end she could have slept through a hurricane.

Frank repeated "It is so hot when you are a great dad."

"Those were kick ass harmonies." Brad responded.

"She is so cute when she is asleep." Frank noted.

"I am now exhausted."

"Kenny Loggins should be marked as a sedative unless the song was in a movie."

"Yes." Brad agreed. He held Frank's hand. They plopped onto their bed and snuggled up together. They didn't have energy for anything more. Brad turned out the light on his side and they fell asleep.


End file.
